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For 'working people'?

State lawmakers love to boast whenever they have a chance about their concern for "working people." They love to wax eloquent about the "hard-working men and women of our state" and proclaim their focus on working-class issues.

But behind closed doors in the Senate and Assembly chambers, they often vote for things that, in fact, hurt the very working people for whom they profess such admiration.

Take, for example, the state budget they enacted this spring.

Gov. David Paterson warned them in December and again in late winter that there would have to be serious cuts in spending this year because the depressed economy had shattered hopeful revenue projections and put the budget way out of whack for the foreseeable future.

What did they do? They passed a budget that increased spending by more than 8 percent to a record $132 billion. Recession? What recession?

Legislative leaders justified this spending spree by insisting that nobody could say how long the recession would last and things very well could get better quickly.

How's that for fiscal prudence?

Of course, their flight of budget fantasy didn't change the hard reality of the state's severely diminished revenue stream one bit. And so Gov. Paterson, who inexplicably signed off on the bloated budget in April, warned again that there would have to be further spending cuts.

But if lawmakers were unwilling to reduce spending to keep pace with the recession, they were perfectly willing to pass a raft of increases in state fees in order to raise revenue to finance their spending bender. They did this quietly, of course, as part of behind-the-scenes budget negotiations. And they made sure the fee increases would take effect well after the budget was passed, at the end of the summer, when people are not focused on the state budget.

And soon, drivers across the state will start finding out the hard way the cost of their deviousness.

As of the first of the month, for example, it will cost you 25 percent more to renew your driver's license. The annual registration renewal fee will also go up 25 percent to $62.50, and if you live in the 12 counties served by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, there will be a surcharge of $50 on all registrations to generate revenue for that chronically destitute agency.

Oh, and state leaders conveniently decided that next year would be a good time to issue new license plates and charge car-owners $25 to get them. And if you want to keep your old license plate number, that will cost you an additional $20.

For the state officials who implemented these increases, it's a win-win. They'll have hundreds of millions in additional revenue available from the increases and surcharges so they can maintain their profligate spending habits. (The new license plate requirement alone is expected to raise $129 million.)

Staten Islanders' contributions for the MTA surcharge alone will be over $6 million a year. As Assemblyman Lou Tobacco, who voted against the budget, noted, that's rich, considering how little Staten Island gets from the MTA.

And those are just the fee increases that pertain to owning a motor vehicle. All New Yorkers who have business with the state will find fees across the board, for whatever state service, have increased substantially. All told, the steeper fees and taxes will bring in an additional $8.3 billion to feed the lawmakers' spending habit.

Back to those "working people" whom lawmakers claim to be so fond of. They all have their own, individual revenue shortfalls to contend with, and they can't suddenly charge higher prices for the services they render to make up the difference.

And now, thanks to the spendthrift Legislature, they'll have to come up with money they may not have just to keep their cars and themselves legally on the road.